Awaken: The Final Chapter

Family and friends, things are coming to a close at Awaken Community Church. This blog serves as a purpose to celebrate the lives that God has changed and what God will do in the future. We feel like God has done what He wants to do through this local church and we are now transitioning into other churches in our community for further growth and community.

On December 8, 2008 Awaken had its first core group meeting with 17 in attendance. We met at my friend Brian Curriers house. We had set out on a journey to bring people to God and back to God and bring people into meaningful relationships with one another. Many lives have been changed since the conception of Awaken. Listen to these stories.

Brian Currier... Brian was my right hand guy at the start of Awaken. We gave ourselves cute little titles and his was program director. Brian ended up meeting the love of his life, Laura, within the first couple of weeks of starting Awaken. He also met an acquaintance, Janie, that lead him to his current job. Brian and his wife now serve the Lord and attend Calvary Chapel downtown.

Bryce Patrick.... Bryce used to play X-box up to 8 hours a day. Tony invited him to Awaken and Bryce found more fulfillment than Halo could offer. He started serving like crazy. The first time I met Bryce was the first Sunday he came to Awaken. The dude was scrubbing our bathroom toilets. Those were the famous toilets that peed back on you. Talk about a servant! Bryce was with us over a year and has been called into youth ministry and is in the process of getting married and is open to God using him in the mission field.

Barry Underwood.... Barry was lonely and did not think anyone cared about Him. He craved Christian community. Barry came to Awaken and started to come alive with the gospel. He shared the gospel at the Rush and invited friends every week to Awaken. If we made an award for most invites, it would for sure go to him. He met a homeless guy named Gene and moved him into his house, bought him clothes and helped him get a job. Gene ended up being baptized at Awaken.

Adam and Dana Wyatt.... Adam hated church people. He is a drummer that loves his music and likes to be real and honest with people. He found for the first time, real Christian community at Awaken. Dana was still kind of new to town when they came to Awaken. She had not been able to meet a lot of people so she hung out with all of Adams friends. She ended up meeting and keeping meaningful relationships at and through Awaken.

I could go on and on with stories from Sam and Lindsay who were burnt pretty bad in ministry and wanted to quit forever. They were with us for a season and now back on their feet serving as worship leaders in Chicago. My family, who were not in church, are now active in church. There are countless lives that were changed and encouraged along the way. The majority of our core group was dechurched at one time and now God is leading many of them to their next step in life in serving Him.

Although Awaken as a church is coming to an end, the people who made up the church have come alive. Our goal was to reach the dechurched, nonchurched and bored at church to show them that the God of creation wants you to come alive and awaken to what He has for you.

I praise God for the opportunity and privilege of starting a church to reach the one. I am not sure what the next chapter is for my wife and I, but we are open to what God wants to do. I want to thank my family and friends for your prayers and support for the past two and a half years and let you know that it was all worth it.

I would like to invite you to celebrate what God has done over the last several years by attending an evening service on Sunday night June 5th. We will meet at 6:00pm and have an open mic for folks to share. It is a time to get together, celebrate Jesus and what He has done through Awaken.